It’s been widely reported that Channel Nine pulled from the air, Karl Stefanovic’s interview with Tommy Robinson and then proceeded to fire him. As to be expected, that decision got a mixed reception in the public arena – some celebrating it, others condemning it.
My view – Channel Nine management can make whatever decision they like and face the consequences of that decision. The directors and controlling shareholder of Nine Entertainment Co, Channel Nine’s owner, can decide whether the decision by Channel Nine’s management was in the interest of its shareholders. Similarly, Karl Stefanovic can make his own decision and face the consequences. Karl Stefanovic is an adult capable of making decisions, and so are Channel Nine’s management.
I don’t care whether Channel Nine made the right call on this. I suspect that losing their star attraction will hurt them financially, but that’s their call. They obviously know a lot more about their business than I do.
Their decision does however beg the question of who ultimately made it, who called for Karl Stefanovic to be fired. Was it the management of Channel Nine on their own accord, was it Channel Nine’s owner, Nine Entertainment Co, a publicly listed company on the ASX, or its controlling shareholder or was it the Australian government?
I suspect the latter, that it was the Albanese Labour government. I suspect they conveyed a message to Channel Nine’s management to pull the interview and rein in its long-serving, star, talk show host.
Why do I think that? Well, if you think back over the past decade or so, numerous government initiatives such as Welcome to Country, the Voice, DEI policies, climate-change concerns, and the Covid restrictions, were all roundly supported by big-corporate, mainstream media and sporting bodies.
None of the sporting bodies I was a member of sought the support of their members, and I gather that was generally the case. And it would generally not make economic sense for a business to take a political position – because it will upset many of its customers and prospective customers. If you want to grow your business, it’s probably not a good idea to upset a large portion of your target market. So, why do they do it, why do they take a political position?
Sporting clubs want to keep government onside, so they can get grants and other money from government in the future. Big-corporate do it for similar reasons – they want subsidies, grants, concessions as well as protection from competition. As a result, the lobbying of politicians by big-corporate is commonplace.
This is not in the interests of society and so must be stopped – and the only way to stop it is to separate State from the economy. Sporting clubs should focus on providing sporting services for their members, and big-corporate should focus on providing better products and services for their customers. Neither should be political.
Classic Liberals is the only political party that will stop the brown-nosing of politicians by clubs and big-corporate and stop politicians using clubs and big-corporate to promote their agenda – their social engineering and other policies.
Prepared by Mark M.J. Morris (June 2026)